Imperial Holdout
by The Bloody Red Lantern
Summary: Imperial forces hole up in a small citadel, its just a short thing i wrote on a whim, if people like it i'll expand it


"Fight damn you! The Emperor looks upon us, don't fail him!"

"Yes Sir Lord Commissar!" The Voystrians poured on their fire, their ornate long nosed lasrifles out ranging the shootas and sluggas of their orc enemy. They were pinned in a small hive citadel. Cut off from the rest of the large army the hard fighting Voystrians had held up in hopes of lasting till aide could arrive. No one responded to their desperate vox messages. They were cut off and they knew it. So the acting leader, Lord Commissar Raizen, had ordered the men to count out their clips and be ready to meet the Emperor. Eight Basilisks had been attached to the company and now were launching shell after shell into the air, blowing holes into the charging orc army. Heavy weapon teams were positioned into the towers of the citadel walls, blasting out with lascannons, heavy bolters and autocannons. Infantry men lined the wall, blasting out with lasrifles. In the center of the citadel wall, where the main of the orc army was pressing to was Lord Commissar Raizen, blasting away with a bolt pistol. His black dress uniform was immaculate even in the face of such a grim battle. His curved power saber rested in its sheath, he wouldn't need it yet. Around his were the last of the Voystrain storm troopers, their hellguns blasting as they protected their lord.

"Artillery!" The orcs were bringing up their cannons, the shells blasting into the wall. Men disappeared in clouds of blood as the large shells hit home. More fell to solid slug rounds from clumsy and inaccurate machine guns.

"Hold the line! Here we stand; here we stay, till victory or death!"

"Victory or Death!" The Voystrians cheered and fought with renewed vigor. They were warriors and if they die then it shall be killing the foes of the Emperor. Large Artillery shells screamed through the air hitting the walls and flying into the courtyard behind them. Still the soldiers did not flinch, did not flee. Not because of fear of the Commissar's pistol, no but because there was no where to flee, all they had left was their guns and an enemy to kill. And really that is all they need. Actually as the men kept firing, if their supplies held, the Commissar could almost see victory. Then three Basilisks were hit and exploded, taking with it ten crates of Basilisk shells. And just like that the slim chance was reduced to nothing.

"Ladders!" The orcs couldn't bring the walls down so they'd go up. The men lining the walls kept shooting, but for everyone who fired, the man to his left turned his gun around and hefted it, the axe blade gleaming. The first wave of climbing orcs were met with bayonets and axes. Orcs where hacked, stabbed and shot before they made it off the ladders. The walls ran slick with orc blood. Then the green monsters made it past the wall of steel. Once they got their feet under them the monster ripped through the human soldiers. Commissar Raizen ordered the abandonment of the walls, and the Voystrians fell back, blasting away at the green beasts. Still, now that the orcs had gotten close, their solid slug weapons and large bloody close combat weapons started to take their toll. Men where ripped apart, hacked into bloody chunks and riddled with giant slugs. Once Raizen and about half the wall guard had fallen back he ordered the Basilisks to turn their fire to the wall. The walls disintegrated under the bombardment, taking orcs and men out alike.

"Form the line damn it form the line!" The scattered wall guard and the reserves of the company all formed up into lines in front of the Basilisks, improvised walls made of prefab plates acting as cover. With gapping holes in the walls the orcs poured in like a flood. The Basilisks leveled their guns and fired directly at the orcs, blasting gigantic holes into the orcs. Many just exploded in gory showers of blood. More were scythed down by las bolts. The heavy weapons teams in the tower spun around blasting at anyone and everyone. With the walls abandoned, the heavy weapons teams were swamped as soon as they ran out of bullets.

"Hold in the name of Emperor hold!" The men kept firing, raining fire down on the orcs. The orcs charged through everything and crashed inot the lines of man like a wave against a mountain.

When the Imperial forces finally found the small citadel, they found a fortress covered in bodies, hundreds of orcs and men were all around, many so badly cut that they were unrecognizable. As the rest of the Voystrians and their Cadian allies slowly explored the ruined citadel, they found the ruined hulks of the destroyed basilisks, their crews still on them. Orc bodies littered the ground almost like a carpet of dead; the Voystrian dead were intermixed as the men moved further inside. In the citadel proper there were even more orc bodies. Voystrian dead became more common as the tight corridors had caused the men to go to hand to hand. At the top of the citadel, the large blast doors had been blown open and inside there, surrounded by bodies, were the remains of Lord Commissar Raizen and his storm trooper bodyguard. Lord General Bulba personally carried Raizen out of the citadel. After the Voystrian company had been buried and read their last rights, the army packed up and moved on. The heroic last stand received no more than a mere foot note in the overall campaign report.


End file.
